The Cage
Atlanta, GA
United States of America
August 2017
“Apparently, I was doing it the wrong way.
I might have missed a step or two,” Mack explained. He took a long sip from his
drink, “I was supposed to dip my fingers in and then slowly
trace them around the rim.”
“For it to work?”
“Mhm. And apparently, if there was a
vibration coming from the rim, then it was working. You could work at different
speeds but the most efficient one came at a certain speed.” Peters snickered at
that, only to be joined eventually by Tadashi and Aether who bore drinks of
their own.
“What were you guys talking about?”
“The art of wine glass music,” Mack
replied, to which Peters replied at the same time with a much more vulgar
suggestion. The curly-haired man barked out a laugh, with Aether’s ears turning
red and Tadashi clearing his throat with a raised brow. “Wine glass music—it
was a college thing,” he explained with the hint of a smile.
“It sounded like something else for a
moment,” Aether muttered. Peters could only waggle his eyebrows at her while
the two settled into the booth. “Something we can’t really talk about.”
“Five drinks should get you to unwind and
fully join the conversation,” Peters offered. Aether declined and instead drank,
Tadashi merely listening on and stirring his lightly. Mack watched the rest of
them, pouring more into his glass as the conversation continued from there.
It was their usual cool down session; they
would always have one every month or so as a way to really unwind from the
stress of work. Nine times out of ten they ended up drinking; the small ten
percent was devoted to something more arguably chiller (such as having dinner
somewhere or staying over at someone’s apartment).
Such events typically ended up roughly the
same; with one or two of them tipsy and the other one or two supporting them
into cabs or cars that would take them home. Tadashi always remained sober; the
rest of them took turns on who would get fucked up the most. Peters usually got
home drunk, while Mack and Aether were on varying points on the scale of
sobriety.
“It sounded like something sexual—”
“It wasn’t supposed to be something
sexual,” Mack groaned. “There’s nothing sexual with wanting to stroke some nice
wine glass rims and wanting them to make nice noises.”
“Sans context,” Tadashi mused, “It sounds
weird when you put it that way.”
An argument from Peters, “Context is
overrated.”
“Because that kind of thinking definitely
works out in our line of work, sure.” That earned a laugh from the rest of
them, with Aether hiding a laugh behind her hand, Peters and Mack snickering
amongst themselves. “Squad A Sans Context. Horrible idea.”
“No, not horrible.”
“How about that time Peters brought up
fucking with his Sims when he could have easily talked about plotting murder—”
Aether argued.
“To be fair,” Peters interrupted with a
deadpan expression, “I fucking hated the neighbors and infiltrating their homes
was the best way to get rid of them.”
An exchanged look between Mack and Tadashi,
and in unison, “Sans context.”
* * * * *
Oftentimes, it would be Tadashi or Peters
who would suggest the venue for their night out. Tadashi had been in Atlanta
the longest out of the four of them, while Peters had friends who knew where
the good places were. Aether and Mack tried to suggest places at some times,
though Aether’s knowledge came from people like Jin-ho and Mathieu while Mack
simply relied on fast food to get him through the day.
They tended to end up in bars, other times
in actual restaurants where they could let go of their work-ridden selves and
instead interact with each other as legitimate friends. Aether and Peters got
along better, bickering playfully instead of arguing about how facts lined up.
Mack served as a more casual snark to play devil’s advocate. Tadashi’s role
remained mostly the same, though he was touchier with them than he would be in
the office.
And it felt like a breath of fresh air.
Feeling human and behaving in such a
humanly way instead of tiring themselves out at work was a relief. They found
themselves enjoying primarily because they could genuinely bare themselves to
the others without it being out of place.
Most of the time, they gathered to have
fun. But in other cases, they gathered for other reasons, for other emotions,
for other turmoil.
(Like when they gathered more frequently to
comfort Aether when Mathieu left her, when they gathered to support Tadashi
every time that date would pass, when
they gathered to listen to the bits of Mack’s story, when they gathered to hear
Peters vent and vent about how he felt like he was still living in the shadow
of his brother—)
They became their own support group, as
cliché as it sounded. They never really acknowledged how therapeutic it was;
they all figured that if they did, it would sound cheesy and cheesiness would
ensure some kind of delicate awkwardness they weren’t sure they were ready to
face.
* * * * *
“Do you ever wonder why we’re here?” a sigh
from Aether, a groan from Peters and a wry smile from Tadashi. “No bullshitting.”
“I’d rather not think about those kinds of
things. Heavy, existential things aren’t exactly the best things to get drunk
over.”
“I disagree.” Aether tapped her glass,
“It’s the best thing to get drunk over. Because then you get completely bullshit
answers that are worth sharing in the mornings.”
Mack interrupted, “But do you ever wonder
why we’re here?”
“In an existential way, or why we chose to
drink here?” Tadashi raised a brow, “Because if you’re questioning why we’re
here, then it’s because all the other bars know us by face value already.” They
then shot looks at Peters, who could only give a nonchalant shrug.
“She was cute.”
“I’d rather not question it,” Aether
answered. “Why I’m here. Why we’re here. Honestly, the best thing to do is to
just accept it and see what comes. Worrying over things like that won’t get us
anywhere.” She paused, “That’s how I see it. I know I’m here in Atlanta for a
reason, and whatever that reason is, I accept it.”
“You’re not the type to accept so easily,”
Peters replied. Aether shrugged at that.
“I know. But honestly, questioning isn’t
really worth it. I’m here and that’s what matters. We’re here and that’s what matters.” She shot them a small smile, “And
I’d rather not question that at all.”
Silence, and then—
Tadashi raised his half-full glass. “I’ll
drink to that.”
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